The Spending And Saving Habits Of Millennials

Millennials have it rough nowadays. Everything is constantly changing and they are expected to keep up with jobs, school, loans, debt, and have a social life all at once. How does money fit into this? Millennials can be much more money savvy than you think, even if they don’t have it all figured out quite yet.

A survey of 1,001 millennials by Bank of America and USA Today found that people between the ages of 18 to 34 have overall good habits financially, but still worry about their current situation as well as the future. When it comes to comparing themselves to their parents, they think they will be better off than their parents were.

About a third of millennials still receive support financially from their family. Some live paycheck to paycheck and others live well within their means. However, there is still a large disconnect in these groups between being able to pay off debt and put money away from emergencies.

Millennials are not all lost on saving as 69 percent do have savings accounts. Yet, most of them have less than $5,000 in these accounts and 41 percent are stressed that they are not putting enough money away.

The survey showed millennials are focused more on short-term goals than long-term goals. According to the CEO of iQuantifi, Tom White, he says it is the lifestyle of millennials that causes this. “They have so many things in the short-term that they’re trying to juggle,” he says.

So just how do millennials define when they have enough money? According to the survey, 70 percent of millennials believe they will have “made it” when they can afford anything, such as traveling and going out with friends. Others had other definitions, such as 40 percent saying having a career that does good for other people, 24 percent said being at the top of their profession, and 15 percent said being wealthier than their parents were.

About 20 percent of millennials between the ages of 26 to 34 say they get regular financial help from their family. This is much lower than the 52 percent of 18 to 25-year-olds who regularly get help from their family financially.

Millennials do have a few tricks that the previous generation did not have when it comes to managing money and regularly use them to stay on track when it comes to spending habits. Apps are widely available to track money and can almost connect any bank to any smart phone. So while millennials are on the go, they know just how much they can spend and stay within their limits.

Another tool millennials use are price comparison websites. Finding a lower price on an item is easier than it was ever before. Just scan the bar code of an item you are looking at or do research online and money is automatically saved.

Millennials are much more money savvy than the older generations make them out to be. While they are still filling up their savings accounts, they are tracking their money with apps and using other tools to manage their money smarter than ever before.